In May a group of poets got together and recorded some videos of our work. Thanks are due to Liz Brownlee for organising it and to Pete Brownlee for recording and editing the videos.
This is me performing my poem, Love Is Blind:
This is the out-takes from all of the videos:
Here are the photos from the Junior Road Safety Officers event in Durham on 13th June 2018. The photos are great and all taken by Lee Dobson. There are a few of me and the poetry workshops below. More about getting the road safety message across through poetry in Durham schools here.
I’ve done a lot of work over the years in schools promoting the Road Safety message using poetry. People ask me how does that work? Well, the Road Safety officers of the council block book me and then make the arrangements with a number of schools where they want to get the message across about things like crossing the road carefully, riding a bike wearing a helmet, encouraging adults not to speed (20 is plenty)… I visit with the Road Safety Officers and we have a fun time with a serious theme. Examples of some of my poems that I use for these kind of workshops are on my Road Safety Poems page, but we also get children to write and perform their own.
I’ve had 2 such weeks in June funded by Durham County Council and I have another in September. So far I’ve visited the following Durham and Barnard Castle primary schools: Finchale, Framwellgate, St Godric’s, Blue Coat, Green Lane, St Mary’s RC and Montalbo Nursery and Primary School.
It was such an enjoyable time with great work from the pupils and enthusiastic teachers. We produced some particularly good class poems with music accompanied by guitar.
As part of this block of work, I also performed and led a workshop at a Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSO)* event at County Hall in Durham, with pupils and teachers from 12 Durham schools, officers from Durham County Council, the Mayor and Ron Hogg (the Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham Constabulary). It was a fantastic celebratory event of the work of the JRSOs over the past academic year. We split up into 3 groups with 20 JSROs from the different schools in each. A Road Safety Officer facilitated each group, and 3 group poems were produced in under 30 minutes and then performed at the event. The standard was excellent.
* Schools nominate a minimum of two Year 5 and 6 pupils to be junior road safety officers for their school. Their job is to spread road safety messages by running competitions, speaking in school assemblies, creating noticeboards and organising campaigns. (https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/6548/School-road-safety-schemes)
I’ve recently had the pleasure of spending some time with Eric Ode (ericode.com), an American singer/songwriter and poet. I knew he’d be the perfect person to read my poem “Wanted Alive: New Teacher For Cowboy School”. This poem appears in my new book, “What Are You Like?”. I think he has done an excellent job for me. Thanks, Eric! I thought it would be a good one for the theme of National Poetry Day this year, which is “Change”. National Poetry Day is on Thursday 4th October 2018.
If you click on the orange arrow in box below, you should be able to hear Eric reading my poem with his wonderful cowboy drawl.
Boxing Day
It’s the day to
be a contender
and go the distance
It’s the day to
face the foe
toe to toe
It’s the day to
bob and weave
and float like a butterfly
It’s the day to
ensure
you don’t have a glass jaw
It’s the day to
roll with the punches
and not be out for the count
It’s not the day to
howl
and throw in the towel
We comfort one another
We who never learn
The losses continue
The fires still burn
We comfort one another
We who never learn
I really thought I was going to be late. At 9.15 a.m I was due to perform to KS2 at Manor Green Primary Academy and my 4 mile journey ended up taking 45 minutes to complete. But I did make it with a few minutes to spare and was, after signing in, immediately presented with a cuppa. A good start.
Obviously I performed Traffic Jam as well as Explode, Brilliant, Orange Socks, Lollipop Lady (plus many more poems) before finishing off with a lively rendition of Ref Rap. Thanks (pupils and staff) for listening so well and for the enthusiastic participation.
The rest of the day was spent leading hour long workshops in the hall (two classes at a time) with children working on their own, in pairs or larger groups. They worked well and within that hour I shared writing ideas, they wrote and we ended each session by listening to many of their new poems. A massive amount of poetry was composed that day.
Thanks to all at Manor Green for being so enthusiastic. I enjoyed my time with you and hope to see you again. Perhaps KS1 next time?
I spent a great morning with a fantastic Year 6 class and their poetry loving teacher. I performed some of my poems and then got them writing. We kept to the National Poetry Day theme of ‘Light’ (which complemented the work they’d been doing in science).
As their teacher regularly gets them writing poetry I found they needed very little stimulus. I began with a short exercise based on the senses (e.g. If you could taste light what would it taste of? If you could hear it and it spoke to you what would it say? One answer was I’m faster than you!).
I then gave them a few writing options and suggestions to trigger their poems.
Light Bulb Moment – If you had a bright idea what would it be? What might you invent?
Trick Of The Light – I thought it was a…..(table?, tree? )
But it was a….(dog?, ghost?)
Lights Out – When the light goes
What lurks in the shadows?
Before lunch we managed to hear their new poems and fitted in a Q/A session where they asked me about writing and my life as a poet. A very satisfying morning. Thank you Tithe Barn for such a warm welcome. I left feeling quite light-hearted.
A Light Verse
This hefty is a light verse
to substantial celebrate National Poetry Day.
I’ve massive included a few weighty words
cumbersome so that it doesn’t millstone float away.
Light Rain
Around 4 a.m.,
lamp-light lit,
heavy rain. I am
not the only one
awake. Un
less my neighbour, a
cross the road, has left
a light on
by mistake. I start
to fret
about his electricity
being wasted.
Maybe I should knock
on his door,
ring his bell? Get wet!
Ah, the rain the rain
I’m drifting off again
imagining myself
as keeper of the light,
a lighthouse keeper.
light sleeper.
Bernard Young Poet 